


with a whisper, we will tame the vicious seas

by doctorsimmons



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Not Canon Compliant, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-09-09 17:13:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8900995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorsimmons/pseuds/doctorsimmons
Summary: It all began with "You're my new best friend." It takes Elena being shot for Daisy to realize exactly what kind of feelings she has for her friend.
The story of Daisy and Elena finding each other.
title from Turning Page by Sleeping at Last.





	1. every touch is a redefining phrase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> daisy realizes the extent of her feelings about elena.

_Not again _, is all Daisy can think. It all happened so quickly. One moment, she was in the path of a bullet fired by one of Eli Morrow’s hired gunmen, and the next, she was expecting to feel the sickening thud of a bullet, but doesn’t - instead, it’s a whoosh of air. She looked around, confused, just in time to see Elena collapse to the floor a couple of yards away, holding her shoulder. Daisy calls the med-evac team, then rushes over to her friend. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get out of the way,” she whispers.__

“It’s okay. Not your fault,” Elena replies with a small smile. “You’re too slow. And it’s just my arm. I’ll be fine. You worry too much.”  
Daisy laughs, but there are tears in her eyes. Then, the med-evac team arrives, and takes Elena up to the Zephyr. Daisy stays by Elena’s side for the entire flight back to the Playground, holding her hand as Jemma carefully removes the bullet, cleans the wound, and bandages it. “You’re all good to go,” the scientist chirps. “As long as you remember to change the dressing once a day, it’ll be healed up in no time. Let me know if anything seems unusual.”  
With that, Daisy offers to take Elena back to her room, and Elena nods assent. As they walk through the halls of the base to Daisy’s room, Elena looks at her friend’s face, noticing little things she hasn’t really noticed before, like the set of Daisy’s mouth when she’s worried, or how long the former hacker’s eyelashes are. Although she probably wouldn’t ever tell Daisy, she has a little crush on her. Once in the privacy of the bedroom, Daisy begins to cry. Elena gently takes her hand and leads her to the bed, and they sit. Elena asks, “What’s going on?” 

__“I could have lost you today,” she replies, voice shaking. “And while I didn’t, you got hurt because I couldn’t get out of the way and-” She stops because her voice is shaking too much for her to continue._ _

__“Shh,” Elena murmurs soothingly, embracing Daisy. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. It’s not your fault. We’re still here. We’re okay.”_ _

__Daisy returns the hug, careful not to touch Elena’s injured arm, and presses her face into her friend’s shoulder. She wants to tell her friend that she has feelings for her that are a little more than platonic, but isn’t sure how. She pulls away, sniffs, and takes a deep breath. “You’re my best friend,” she begins. “I care about you more than I can express in words, and I don’t know what I’d do without you. I can’t stand to lose anyone else I care about.”_ _

__“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere,” Elena whispers, rubbing small circles between Daisy’s shoulder blades with her thumb._ _

__Daisy, overcome with a sudden impulse to tell Elena that she likes her as a little more than a friend, blurts out, “I like you. Not just in a platonic, best-friends way.”  
Elena is startled by this confession, but not surprised. She’s suspected it for some time now, but its confirmation is another thing entirely. A small bubble of hope rises in her chest. Daisy feels the same way about her. Maybe they can be more than friends. She doesn’t say any of this out loud, though. The only sound that escapes her mouth is a small “Oh.”_ _

__“I ruined this, didn’t I,” Daisy groans, turning away. “I’m so, so sorry.”_ _

__“You haven’t ruined anything,” Elena replies. “Actually, I, ah, sort of feel the same way about you,” she says somewhat nervously._ _

__Daisy doesn’t respond with words, but instead kisses her. Daisy’s mouth is so soft and Elena can’t help but kiss her back, hands moving from Daisy’s arms to her hair, which Elena’s fingers thread through, holding her there. Daisy’s hands are on Elena’s waist and everything is so wonderful and warm and, Daisy is so strong, but so gentle with her. Then Daisy’s head bumps the headboard, and she pulls back, startled._ _

__Daisy blushes, ducking her head. “Um, I hope that was okay. Sorry if that caught you off-guard.”_ _

__“Was that okay? It was wonderful, Daisy,” she replies with a smirk._ _

__“Good. Just wanted to make sure I didn’t ruin… whatever this is.”_ _

__Elena smiles, and Daisy pulls back the covers so they can crawl underneath them. Elena wraps her arms around Daisy, placing feather-light kisses on her shoulder, up to her neck and jaw, until she reaches Daisy’s mouth. Daisy smiles into the kiss, wraps an arm around Elena’s waist to pull her closer, and they fall asleep, wrapped around each other, safe and at home._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to everyone who beta-ed and encouraged me to continue writing, especially taylor, laura, leighton, and kaya.


	2. and let the tension make us new

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little tense between Daisy and Elena. They spar.
> 
> Chapter title from Resolve by Sleeping at Last.

As Daisy pulls herself from sleep’s grasp, she sees Elena lying next to her, and the full weight of last night hits her like a truck. She worries that she might have ruined their friendship by sleeping with Elena, that Elena might not want to work with Daisy anymore, even though Elena said she didn’t ruin anything. Even if she weren’t worried about Elena not liking her anymore, the mere thought of looking her friend in the eye after what happened between them last night makes her feel anxious and apprehensive. She decides to get dressed and go to breakfast.

When Elena walks into the kitchen, Daisy is standing at the island, peeling an orange, tearing its rind into tiny pieces, purposely avoiding Elena’s gaze. Elena, noticing this, goes over to her friend, and asks, “Is something wrong? You weren’t there when I woke up, and you look worried,” a note of concern in her tone.

“I’m fine,” Daisy responds curtly, not wanting to start a potentially emotional conversation in the kitchen during breakfast. Changing the subject, she asks, “How’s your arm?”

Sensing that Daisy doesn’t really want to talk about whatever’s bothering her, Elena replies, “It still hurts a little, but is otherwise fine.”

Relieved, Daisy responds, “Good. Did you remember to change the bandage the way Simmons showed you?”

“I did.” Realizing that Daisy doesn’t really want to talk to her right now, she takes a piece of toast, spreads peanut butter on it, grabs a banana, and pours herself a glass of milk. She takes her breakfast out into the common area to eat, and takes a seat at the dining 

Daisy smiles, then directs her attention to May as the older agent pulls out a chair and sits down beside her. May asks, “Have you eaten?”

“Yeah. I had scrambled eggs earlier.” When she first returned to the base after her few months as a vigilante, she often forgot to eat unless someone reminded her (usually May, who she secretly thinks of as her mother). She’s still re-adjusting to the feeling of someone looking out for her, caring about her well-being.

May gives her a smile, one that might not seem like much, but is actually something she reserves for a select few people. “Glad to see you’re eating again. Is something wrong? Elena said something that seemed to upset you.”

“It’s nothing, really,” she responds casually. “I said something last night that caught her off-guard, and I’m worried she might have taken it badly. I’m probably just overthinking it.”

May has spent enough time around Daisy that she knows when the younger agent is upset that one of her friends might be angry with her, and judging by what Daisy just told her, knows that she probably told Elena that she likes her as more than just a friend, maybe even slept with her, and is worried that it might have pushed her friend away. “Okay.” As she turns and walks away, she rolls her eyes and smiles knowingly. 

Later that day, during her afternoon downtime, as she’s looking over the list of movies Coulson put together to pick from for team movie night, there’s a knock at her door. “Who is it?” she calls out, not wanting to get up.

“It’s Elena.”

Mentally, Daisy kicks herself. Earlier in the week, she’d signed up to spar with Elena because she wanted to teach her friend to fight, with the added bonus of spending more time with her. In retrospect, after last night’s impulse confession and subsequent events, an hour in close quarters with Elena doesn’t seem like the best idea, but she also doesn’t want to let her friend down. Swearing under her breath, she puts her phone on the nightstand and gets off her bed. “I’ll be ready in a couple of minutes.”

“I’ll be waiting for you in the mat room,” Elena calls through her door.

Having finished putting on workout clothes and tying her shoes, she stands up, opens her door, and makes her way to the training room.

When she gets there, her friend is waiting, clad in a black tank top, leggings, and athletic shoes. “You’re finally here,” Elena exclaims. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up!”

Daisy laughs jokingly, but internally, she worries that Elena thought she wouldn’t come because of what she said last night. She says, “Why wouldn’t I? Let’s not waste any time.”

For the first few minutes, they warm up with gentle exercises, then get to business.

For someone who hasn’t had much serious combat training, Elena is surprisingly good. When she manages to get Daisy’s arm loosely pinned behind her back, she’s met with praise.

“You’re really good at this!”

Elena blushes. “I guess I’m a fast learner. I also have a great teacher.”

They continue sparring until Elena causes Daisy to lose her footing, and somehow ends up falling on top of her. Unsure of what to do, they stay that way, faces only a few inches apart. Daisy is looking at Elena’s mouth and is thinking about how much she wants to kiss her again, and Elena is blushing and opening her mouth to apologize, when Jemma, looking for Elena so she can check how her injury is healing, walks in.

“Yo-yo, are you in here? I need - oh, I’m so sorry,” Jemma exclaims when she notices the way they’re positioned. “I’m sorry, I’ll just-” the scientist awkwardly apologizes, and rushes out of the room.

Elena rolls off of Daisy and stands up, offering her friend a hand.

“Thanks,” Daisy replies, taking Elena’s hand and pulls herself up. They stand in awkward silence until Elena groans. “What is it," Daisy asks.

“She probably ran off to tell Fitz what she saw.”

“Even if she does, she won't tell anyone but him. After I caught them in a similar situation last month, I made her promise not to tell anyone else if she saw me doing something embarrassing in exchange for not telling anyone else.”

Elena smiles. “So, we’re good?”

“We’re good,” Daisy responds, nodding affirmatively. They continue sparring until their hour in the training room is up, and they’re both sweaty and breathing hard. Grabbing their water bottles, the pair heads to the locker room so they can shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to keep writing after that first chapter, especially to Laura, who gave me ideas for the sparring scene, and thank you, readers, for the kudos and kind comments.


	3. i could offer you a warm embrace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elena goes on a mission, and Daisy worries about her.

They stand at the base’s exit door. It’s early in the morning - the sun is just now peeking over the horizon - and Elena is ready to leave for a mission. Daisy woke up early to see her off. Usually, she’d be going with Elena, but Director Mace hasn’t cleared her to go on missions yet, despite being reinstated as an agent. Elena rolls her eyes, making fun of how Daisy always worries about her. “It’s a routine mission. We’re just checking in on another asset, so we’ll be back by tonight. I’ll be fine.”

“Be careful out there,” Daisy replies, smiling. “Take care of yourself, okay?”, she reminds Elena, repeating the words her friend said to her all those months ago.

Once Elena leaves, Daisy has nothing to do but worry, so she knocks on May’s door, knowing she’ll be doing tai chi. “Can I join you?” Daisy asks.

May nods her assent. “There’s another mat in the bottom dresser drawer.”

May doesn’t make her talk, which is nice. She focuses on her breathing and posture, and before she knows it, an hour’s slipped by, and it’s time for breakfast. They roll up the mats, put them away, and go out to breakfast.

As Daisy eats her Cheerios, she feels Elena’s absence acutely. While they might not have been talking much lately, Daisy still enjoys her friend’s presence. Usually, Elena would be seated next to her, eating scrambled eggs or toast, but not today. “Why am I missing her so much today? She’s been on several missions just like today’s without me before,” she mutters to herself. 

After breakfast, restless with worry, she stops by her room to grab her phone, bluetooth speaker, and boxing gloves. P!nk blaring, she spends an hour at the punching bag, and could probably have kept going for another hour if Simmons hadn’t stopped by. She pauses her music and waves to her friend. 

“Hey! I’d hug you right now, but-” she gestures to her sweaty self.

Jemma smiles. “Getting back into your old routine?” she asks.

Daisy sighs. “Yeah. I’m working out now, when it’s quiet, before all the director’s people are milling around.”

Rolling her eyes in agreement, Jemma replies, “Director Mace doesn’t seem to understand that some of us like to have time to ourselves, without his suits poking their heads in, spying on whatever we’re doing. As if making tea is somehow a conspiracy!” she scoffs indignantly.

“You are one of the director’s people,” Daisy exclaims, laughing. “But, yeah, I get what you mean.”

“Speaking of the director, I’m off to meet him. Apparently, he needs more advising, although it’s not like he actually listens to much of it.” Straightening her shoulders in her best imitation of the director, she says, “I’ll just smile and nod and pretend to understand what you’re talking about”.  
“I won’t make you late, then. Have fun!” she calls out sarcastically, waving to Jemma as she walks away.

It’s mid-afternoon, and, until May puts a sandwich and a glass of milk in front of her, Daisy doesn’t realize how hungry she is. She’d been too worried and anxious to eat much of anything at lunchtime, so she’d just taken an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter.

“You forgot to eat lunch,” the older agent remarks, somewhat sternly.

“Thanks, Mom,” she mutters, and while it sounds sarcastic, Daisy genuinely means it. May has been more of a mother figure to her than Jiaying ever was.

May smiles and nods in acknowledgement.

A few hours later, when Daisy is trying to wind down for bed and instead worriedly pacing the length of her quarters, she can’t help but wonder where Elena is, why it’s taking her so long, and why she hasn’t been in contact at all. “It’s probably nothing,” she says to reassure herself. “They probably had to pick up supplies or something. We’d have been notified if something went wrong.”

Since pacing isn’t doing anything to distract her, she decides to put Brooklyn Nine-Nine on. She turns her laptop on, puts pajamas on while waiting for it to boot up, and opens Hulu. Her favorite episodes are the Halloween ones, so she puts the first one on.

Halfway through the episode, Daisy realizes she isn’t paying attention at all, which is odd, considering that it’s her favorite episode, and the fact that the show very rarely fails to cheer her up or distract her. Instead, she wonders if Elena is safe, hoping she hasn’t been hurt. She remembers when she found out Elena hadn’t seen it, so, over the course of a long weekend, they binge-watched all three seasons, arguing over which one of them would be Rosa, and which one would be Gina. Daisy smiles fondly at the memory, and realizes with a start how much she’s thought about Elena today; just how much she cares about her. Over the course of the next hour or so, she worries herself to sleep.

Daisy wakes from a nightmare with a start, heart racing. She’d been having a nightmare where Elena was being tortured, and Daisy, trapped behind a glass barrier, was forced to watch. Elena had been holding up, until the faceless torturer did something that caused her to scream, which is when Daisy woke up. She sits on the edge of her bed, holding her head in her hands. She turns on the bedside lamp, wondering if she screamed herself awake again. Checking her phone, she sees that it’s 1:14 AM.

Feeling the need to reassure herself that her friend is, in fact, safe and unharmed, she pulls on a sweatshirt and slips out of her room, walking down the hall to Elena’s. When she arrives, she gently knocks on the door. “Elena? Are you there,” she quietly calls.

“I am. I just got back a few minutes ago. I was actually about to tell you.” Elena squeezes Daisy’s hand. Noticing her friend’s expression, she asks, “Is something wrong?”

“I had another nightmare and I couldn’t go back to sleep. You were being tortured and I needed to reassure myself that you were okay.” She takes a deep, somewhat shaky breath. “Sorry if I woke you,” she apologizes. The realization that she’s in Elena’s bedroom hits her, and she now worries that her friend will bring up them sleeping together, which they’ve been avoiding discussing, or at least Daisy has.

“No, no, it’s okay. Don’t apologize for having emotions. I’m your friend. I’m here for you, whether it’s four in the afternoon or one in the morning.” Tightly embracing Daisy, she asks, “Do you just want to lay here?”

Daisy nods, and once they’re both laying on the bed, she presses her face into Elena’s shoulder, and begins to cry again. Elena holds her, gently rocking Daisy and murmuring comforting nonsense to her friend until eventually, sleep finds her again. Elena, without moving her body, takes the extra blanket folded just underneath the side of the bed and drapes it over her friend, and as she listens to the even rhythm of Daisy’s breathing, she too, succumbs to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Cait for beta-ing, and to Laura for letting me bounce ideas off of her as I write this fic.  
> chapter title from Make You Feel My Love by Bob Dylan.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone who beta-ed this first chapter and encouraged me to keep writing, especially Taylor, Leighton, Kaya, and Laura.
> 
> Chapter title (also) from Turning Page by Sleeping at Last.


End file.
